Monday, January 16, 2012

Cold and Cozy Winter Books: Part 2

Did you get a chance to read any of last week’s winter books? Well here are a bunch more to enjoy!

Snow by Uri Shulevitz

The adults all say, “No snow.” But a boy and his dog know better. They wait and the snow comes. As they dance about in the deepening snow, they are joined by some unlikely playmates. This is a Caldecott Honor Book. It perfectly captures the joy of the first snowfall.

Winter Lullaby by Barbara Seulling, illustrated by Greg Newbold

Where do the ducks go in the winter? The bees? The snakes and bats? Where do people go? This is a perfect bedtime or laptime read-aloud.

This is a book of winter poems written in both Spanish and English. I’m not sure which is livelier, the poems or the illustrations. They both dance on the page. There are 4 books in this series, one for each season.

Winter Fox by Jennifer Brutschy, illustrated by Allen Garns

When a girl gets a rabbit as a pet, she tries to keep it warm and safe. A hungry fox has other plans. Every page of this story is wintery cold. It’s a harsh story but very well told.

Winter is the Warmest Season by Lauren Stringer

Do you think the title of this book is foolish? You won’t when you’re done reading it. The girl who narrates this story has me convinced that winter IS the warmest season!

Little Brown Bear Won’t Take a Nap! by Jane Dyer

Bears sleep all winter, right? Not Little Brown Bear – he refuses to hibernate and heads south with the geese, instead. The pictures are quite charming and a little surprising – who knew that some geese take the train instead of flying south for the winter!

When This World Was New by D.H. Figueredo, illustrated by Enrique O. Sanchez

Danilito arrives in New York City from his island home in Caribbean Sea. He’s scared because everything is strange to him. Then it starts snowing and there is nothing like the first snow of the season. You can easily imagine what it is like for Danilito to experience snow for the first time in his life.

City of Snow: The Great Blizzard of 1888 by Linda Oatman High, illustrated by Laura Francesca Filippucci

This is a perfect book for kids interested in history. It tells about the blizzard that hit New York City and lasted 3 days. The illustrations are detail-filled and give a strong sense of the time. The story answers a question I hadn’t thought of: what did city people do with the huge amount of snow when there were no plows or trucks to haul it away?

Winter Trees by Carole Gerber, illustrated by Leslie Evans

Do you like to spend time in the woods? If you like to notice the details around you, then this book is for you. A boy wanders through the winter woods with his dog and spots differences between trees – their shape, their bark, their branches… Reading this book makes me want to go out and see what I can notice.

A Winter’s Tale by Ian Wallace

All Abigail wants for her 9th birthday is to go winter camping with her father and brother. The 3 of them go and have a great time and a neat adventure. This story and its illustrations provide lots of details and makes winter camping seem like a wonderful adventure.

Rainbow Crow retold by Nancy Van Laan, illustrated by Beatriz Vidal

I must admit I’m a sucker for legends that tell about how something came to be. In this legend, we learn how Rainbow Crow with his beautiful feathers and lovely voice becomes the black crow with the caw-caw voice we know today. Hint: he is very brave and unselfish.

I admit winter is not my favorite season. But these books certainly helped me enjoy and appreciate it more. What are your feelings about winter?